


Remember me Though I have to travel far

by probs_pastel_goth



Series: Klaus fixes this mess of a family, one step at a time. But naturally, he suffers first. [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Multi, Sad with a Happy Ending, poor babe, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-17 17:54:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18103502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/probs_pastel_goth/pseuds/probs_pastel_goth
Summary: Klaus' wish comes true, he gets to see Five again. Just, not in the way he wanted to. Emotional roller coasters ahead!





	Remember me Though I have to travel far

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys, warning. This one is pretty sad, and just a bit longer than the last one. I hope y'all like it, and pls don't cry.

_ Well, this sucks. Why do I have to be here for the funeral? Why won’t Allison let me leave? If I left, everyone would be better off. Not like I can help plan stuff anyway. Wait, shit. What’s Luther saying? _

****

“Exactly, it’s just a monocle. Who cares about a monocle? Why would anyone take a monocle? It would have to be a personal reason.”

****

“What are you saying, Luther?”

****

“Nothing, I just-”

****

“He’s saying that one of us killed Dad.”

****

“That’s not what I’m saying, I just…”

****

_ Wait, who is that? I could have sworn I’m high as balls right now, so… That’s not Ben, they’re too short. Hang on… No, surely not. This is just my fucked up mind. That’s all, I’m still focused on the summoning attempt two months ago. That can’t actually be… _

****

“Is it just me, or does anyone else see little Number Five?”

****

“Klaus? What are you talking about? Five’s been gone for years, you know that.”

****

“Yeah, Klaus. He isn’t here.” _ Vanya, Diego… They can’t see him. Maybe he’s just my mind… _

****

“Klaus, I can see him too. He’s there. He’s…”

****

“No, no Ben. Shut up… He’s not… He can’t be…”

****

“Klaus? Ben isn’t here either, how high are you?”

****

“No, Ben. Shut your piehole. That’s not him, Five isn’t dead. It’s just my head, you might just be in my head as well, for all I know.” Even as he said that, he knew it was just his desperate mind trying to keep together.

****

“Klaus, what the hell are you talking about?”

****

Klaus couldn’t hear anything, just white noise. It was settling in, but he was numb to it. He knew he was walking to Five, he could tell feel the looks from the others as he walked over to thin air, but he didn’t care. Surely, Five couldn’t be here, right? Five was smart, he could keep himself alive.

****

He braced himself, knelt down in front of his brother, who looked 13, and placed his hands on the young boy's shoulders. Instantly, they passed through, but instead of fading away like hallucinations did after he did that, Five glowed a bright blue, like Ben did whenever Klaus forgot he was dead. He felt the chill as his hands passed through, and he fell back from the shock of it. It sunk it, and suddenly his brain was assaulted with memories.  _ Five’s  _ memories. All of them, one after the other. Five hadn’t interacted with other ghost’s, clearly. Didn’t know how to contain his memories. Which, if he wasn’t being put through said memories, would have been amusing. Five, the smartest out of all of them, didn’t know how to do something. But, it wasn’t amusing, because Five was dead, and forever how long he was dead, for Five at least, time was weird, Five had been alone. And that thought, along with the evidence of that in the memories, broke him.

****

It was a good thing he could block Ben from seeing memories of others. He didn’t want Ben to see this. Ben was his youngest brother, he didn’t want him to deal with this. And Five was younger than Klaus as well. This hurt, to see him suffer so much. Why, why didn’t he stop Five? Then he would be alive, and wouldn’t have dealt with any of this.

****

To the others, he knew he looked crazy, just sitting on the floor, crying. But then, he always looked crazy to them, so he couldn’t care less. But, they then started saying things. He could barely hear them, but they were.

****

_ “Is Klaus crying? Over thin air?” _

****

_ “Does he want Five to be there? Does he actually want Five to be dead or something?” _

****

_ “Luther! Of course he doesn’t, but. Maybe he wants to see him after all these years? We all do.” _

****

_ “I don’t think Klaus even cares. He barely seemed fazed when Five left. Just got high as a kite, as normal.” _

****

_ “Yeah, I guess. He probably didn’t even notice he was gone until the funeral. He didn’t even cry, or anything. And now he cries?” _

****

_ “We always knew he was pathetic, remember when he would wake everyone up, screaming about the ghosts? I mean, can he really not control his power enough to turn it off?” _

****

_ “Yes, I remember. I mean, did he even try? He complained so much, you’d think he would.” _

****

“Klaus, don’t listen to them. I know it’s hard not too, but trust me. I know, and I’m sure Five knows, that you care about us. You don’t want him dead, we know that. You just wanted to block everything out.”

****

“Yeah, trust me. I know you would never want any of us dead, not even Luther.”

****

Five speaking did not have a calming effect, at all, though he clearly wanted it to. Instead, Klaus started downright sobbing. This surprised not only the dead but the living as well. None of them had seen Klaus break down like this in years. Their brother had toughened himself, part of Father’s training probably. He showed no weakness, at least didn’t break down sobbing like this. He would cry, sure, but never break down. The last time he had been like this, they were eight. Then, Dad put him on a different training course, and he hardened like clay. Leave him cold, without affection, and he won’t break unless forced to. Make him warm, give him affection, he becomes mouldable. You can manipulate him, and he will be loyal to you. Shame Dad never saw that, or he would have had a weapon. A constant weapon.

****

Either way, this was new for Klaus. As such, they had no idea how to react to this, or what to do. Not even Ben. It just wasn’t how Klaus was, he never acted like this. He was always high, always drunk. He wasn’t this emotional, cause he never cared about anything enough to be emotional about it. He was always too out of it.

****

And yet, Ben knew he would break sometimes. Ben was never there for it, though. Not recently. He was always sent away. He couldn’t appear even if he wanted too. Klaus hid from him, in those moments. He didn’t want to seem weak. He had no problems crying in front of people, unless it was Dad. He knew crying wasn’t a weakness. When Klaus breaks down though, he shatters. And has to build himself back up again. Throughout the whole time Ben had been dead, Klaus had broken down five times. At least that he knew of. Klaus had a habit of sending him away a lot, but he was certain of those five times. Each time he had come back then, Klaus was a wreck.

****

This was different though. Klaus was down, and sobbing. He wasn’t responding to Diego calling his name, or Vanya’s hand on his shoulder, or Luther’s yelling. Zero responses to Allison, even as she used her power.  _ ‘I heard a rumour, that you calmed down enough to talk to us.’  _ They had thought it impossible to resist her abilities, but Klaus always did the impossible. Like, talk to the dead. Because that was what their family was. Impossible. It never made sense, and it never will make sense. Klaus was in the middle of all of this though. He was the middle child out of them, and it showed. Sure, Diego was the middle of Luther and Allison, and Ben was the middle of Five and Vanya, but Klaus was the true middle. He protected them; Five, Ben and Vanya. He didn’t let the others give them shit. Or he did, and comforted them later, as best he could. Now, the only one left to protect was Vanya, and he’d be damned if anything happened to her. He cared about the others too, of course, he’d kill for them. But, they had been special. If anyone hurt Vanya, Ben bid farewell to them, because they would not live to see another day.

****

So, naturally, seeing Five dead, was destructive on Klaus’ mental barrier. It had stayed remarkably strong throughout the years, survived Five’s disappearance and Ben’s death. Sure, it shook and suffered through those moments, but it held. It had came so close to breaking at Ben’s death, and yet Klaus didn’t allow it. He showed no signs of it breaking, and bottled it up to deal with at a later date. That date being now, clearly. Five was the one out of the three that had rejected the protection the most, and so Klaus gave him affection instead. Keep his psyche stable enough. He cuddled Ben and Vanya enough, but he knew Five was a special case. Klaus and onward, their powers were based on emotions. Except for Vanya, but you never know. And thus, they had to be supported emotionally, or they would kill. Ben was especially dangerous in that aspect, but Five was fast. He could kill a group of armed men with butter knives and pencils. And they had a lot of butter knives and pencils, so that was always a hazard.

****

Five could control himself well enough, but he had threatened enough when angry. Mostly to Klaus, but whatever. Klaus didn’t care, as long as his brother knew he was loved, he would deal with a couple of stab wounds. But now Five could never carry out those threats, and that made the memories rather, bittersweet. 

****

Unfortunately,  _ ‘Bittersweet’ _ for Klaus meant, everything might start floating. Or, he would start floating. If you manage to get Klaus emotional, he will fuck shit up. Klaus wasn’t wearing shoes at the moment, the dramatic gothic gay that he was, and thus was up in the air. Luther had to stretch to grab him and pull him down, only for Klaus to float back up, almost pulling Luther with him. He had enough sense to let go, and allow their crying sibling to stay in the air. Ben just wished he could know what was happening in his brain.

****

Obviously, Klaus would never let Ben see what he was seeing. Because he cared about his brother, and did not want him to see this. One emotional wreck was enough, thank you very much. And yet, you all want to know what Klaus is seeing, don’t you? Of course you do. You came here for angst, or maybe you were expecting more fluff.  Welp, that ain’t happening, sorry loves. No fluff from here on out.

****

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

****

It was a wasteland. Barren, with nothing but fiery remains of building to show that people once occupied it. Five didn’t know how it happened, but he knew when. And that was a horrifyingly close date, in the span of things. He had found his siblings, their bodies at least, and it was horrible. He couldn’t find ben, or Vanya, but the others were there. Luther, separated from the others slightly. Always the leader. Diego, near Allison. The two had stuck together, Diego protecting Allison as he usually did, or tried too. She didn’t need protection much anymore.

****

He found Klaus last, and that was the worst one. His brother, his older brother. His closest brother. Dead, alone. He knew Klaus had remarkable luck in surviving, always had. He could tell he had survived for a little while, his brother had gathered supplies, had them sitting in a pile next to him, and had ended his life. There was a note, of course Klaus would have a notepad with him. But, Five cherished that note with his whole being. It was addressed to him. Like Klaus knew he would be there, somehow.

****

It said to open the locked box in his left coat pocket. It also said to take the whole ass coat, in a natural Klaus fashion. And so he did. He took the coat, opened the box, and cried as he read what was in there. Letter after letter. Sixteen letters, all to him. He read each and every single one of them, and fresh tears poured down his face at each one. Why does Klaus have to be so loving? He always managed to break Five’s walls, always got to him. Which used to annoy him, but now he couldn’t care less. He wanted his brother, so bad. He wanted a hug, he wanted him to say something stupid, like usual. He wanted Klaus.

****

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

****

Five had found a friend. Her name was Dolores, and she was pretty. She listened to his theories, his plans on how to get back. She helped him when he cried, calmed him down. Made sure he didn’t dehydrate himself. He knew he wouldn’t have survived as long as he had without her. Sure, he could have survived a few weeks on his own, but months? No, he would have gone mad on his own. He needed Dolores, if anything happened he knew he would break.

****

He should have expected it. Nothing was happy forever. Nothing stayed, there is never a perfect life. So why didn’t he prepare for this? He knew something bad would happen. And he hadn’t expected it. He hadn’t seen the loose plank, he hadn’t seen the fire, he hadn’t seen.

****

All he saw was Dolores when he woke up, cracked and melted. He cried for who knows how long, before grabbing everything and leaving. He couldn’t see her body, even though it never left his mind. His friend, dead because he didn’t pay attention. And thus, he stopped caring. He couldn’t survive without Dolores, not now that he had her.

****

So he gave up. He got burned more, the shelters were pathetic, and he went back to their bodies. He needed Klaus more than ever, now. He needed someone. He wrapped Klaus’ coat around himself, and stayed next to his brother. The scent of the dead didn’t bother him, he got used to it. He didn’t move anymore. He couldn’t bring himself too. If he did, he would be leaving Klaus. He wanted to join him as soon as possible. He wanted Klaus, he wanted Dolores. He needed them both. He needed his family. Mom, Diego, Vanya, Ben. Allison, heck even Luther. He needed someone so badly, and that drove him to stay. He had to be with them, then it could all be over. No more pain. No more hunger, thirst. Just his family.

****

Now that he mentioned it, he was rather thirsty. And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to care. It didn’t matter. He wanted his family…

****

He died of dehydration and starvation, though he wouldn’t have known it was both. He drove himself to his death, he gave up. No thirteen year old could survive an apocalypse. At least, not him anyway. He just wanted Klaus back…

****

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

****

Is that what you wanted? I hope so, because you are in for more.

****

Klaus couldn’t think properly. He was the reason his brother gave up. His brother wanted him, but he had taken the cowards way out. As he always does. His brothers suffering was all his fault, as usual.

****

“Klaus, you stop those thoughts right now.” Five had spoken, suddenly. He wasn’t expecting Klaus to actually hear him. His brother jolted to attention, and with him everyone else did too.

****

“Listen to me, Klaus. Yes, I gave up because I wanted you. But that doesn’t mean it was your fault, or that you took ‘the cowards way out’. Yes, you killed yourself, but I know how you are with ghosts. They get in your head, and it was the apocalypse, everyone was dead. That’s a lot of new spirits, latching on to the only person alive. And yet, you stayed sane, somehow. Your notes and letters kept me sane.”

****

“It was never your fault, Klaus. I didn’t leave because you weren’t protecting me enough. I left out of petty, teenage angst. I wasn’t thinking, and I was being stupid, okay?”

****

“Five… I have never once heard you call yourself stupid. Shame you had to die to realise that you are a complete dumbass sometimes. We all are, we might as well be the dumbass family.”

****

“Very true, very true. Hi, my name is Five Dumbass. This is my brother Klaus Dumbass. We have several other siblings, and an estranged, abusive father. We are the Dumbass family.”

****

“Oh my God Five, shut up. We are the Dumbass family, that’s true, but you don’t need to let the world know. That’s for us to know, alright?”

****

“Alright Klaus, just our secret. As normal. Just the family.”

****

“Klaus, what on earth are you saying? Five isn’t there, and as you said before, you are much too high to conjure anyone right now.”

****

“Allison, enough.” None had expected Vanya to speak up. She usual just comforted after arguments like this. “Klaus clearly isn’t high, he isn’t this emotional when he is. He gets clingy, sure, but that’s it. He doesn’t break down, or cry really.”

****

“And how would you know Vanya? It’s not like you ever really paid attention to any of us.” Diego had spoken, clearly feeling left out of arguing. But what he said, insinuating that Vanya didn’t care, really pissed Klaus off.

****

“Hey, Klaus. Don’t, trust me. If you do, they will yell. You know what happens when people- Nevermind…”

****

“Oi, Diego! What do you know! You’re the one who didn’t pay attention, always focused on being Daddy’s favourite! Sure, you were better than Luther in that aspect, you noticed somethings, but still! Vanya paid plenty of attention to Ben, Five and I. Since, you know, we were the only ones who paid attention to her! None of you lot really cared, did you? You were focused on being Dad’s soldiers, or being famous. All of us though, except for Five sometimes, were just useless to Dad. Sure, Ben was powerful and Dad had plenty of tests for him, but Ben wasn’t easily manipulated. Dad well and truly fucked me up, and Vanya was just ‘ordinary’! Just because she wasn’t a freak show like us lot!”

****

“Klaus, none of you are freak shows. Don’t say that!”

****

“Van, you know that’s not true. I mean, Luther has super strength and has definitely been experimented on by Dad since we all left, I mean, look at him! Diego can hold his breath indefinitely, and bend literal gravity around knives. Allison can manipulate people to do what she wants them to. I can literally see ghosts, levitate, and have telekinesis! Five could jump through space and time, and Ben had creatures from other dimensions under his skin! We are freak shows, and nothing will change that. You were lucky to escape it, my dear.”

****

“Listen, I’m not saying you guys were normal, not at all. But you guys aren’t freaks! Our whole lives have been weird, our births were freaky, but that doesn’t make us freaky! All we need is, a shit ton of therapy. Once we get that, we’ll be fine. Mostly. We do need to learn actual communication and all that family shite.”

****

“Well said Van, well said. I do have to say, you are correct in saying we need therapy, but you know none of us can go, right? How will anybody believe us, really? We were the poster kids, our lives were supposed to be amazing! I could get help for the drugs, and all that good stuff, but I doubt anyone else will be able to convince themselves to do it! Allison is already, I know that. But that’s because she wants to see Claire again, not because she realised we need help! If Patrick hadn’t realised what she had done, she would never have gotten therapy. We are all giant disasters, and none of us really want to get help for it.”

****

“I know that Klaus, trust me I do. But it would just make everything a little easier. Would you at least, make an attempt to go to get help with the drugs?”

****

“I, I can try Van. I’ll make the effort, especially since now I have Ben  _ and _ Five to yell at me.”

****

“Five is actually, really there?”

****

“Yes, unfortunately. I would prefer he wasn’t, and was instead alive being like, a time traveling assassin or something.”

****

“Can, can you tell him I miss him?”

****

“Vanya, love.” Klaus’ hands started glowing a soft blue, though he clearly didn’t realise. “He can hear you, you know. I don’t need to pass on the message.”

****

The others gasped suddenly, drawing Klaus out of his sass. He turned around, to see that they were all looking directly at Five and Ben. His brothers were glowing a soft blue as well.

****

“What the hell? How come they can see you?”

****

“You managed to make us corporeal, Klaus! I’m so proud of you, I knew you could do it again!”

****

“Five? Oh god, you didn’t even make it a year?”

****

“Hey Vanya. Yeah, didn’t quite manage it. Nice to see you though, I missed you.”

****

“I missed you too Five.”

****

The spirits were bombarded with affection and questions from their siblings, before their forms started to flicker. The dead siblings looked over at Klaus worriedly, who was clearly struggling to keep their forms stable enough that the others could touch them. They walked away from the others, and knelt down in front of Klaus.

****

“Hey, man. You can let go now. Don’t strain yourself. This is the second time you done this, as far as I’m aware. You’ll just tire yourself out.”

****

“Nah, I’m f-fine Benny. I can do this, s-see?”

****

“Klaus, let us go now. You clearly can’t, you’ve done so well already. They can see, hear and touch us! That is more than enough for now, okay? Let us go, and then off to bed with you. You can sleep in my room if you want, I know you don’t like your room as much.”

****

“Five, I can do it! Okay? I don’t need to rest, these guys deserve to be able to see you.”

****

“Klaus, honestly, we would rather you go rest and have the ability to bring them up later, than keep them here and strain your power. Just go rest okay? Once you’ve slept and hopefully eat or at least drink something, you can summon them again. Alright?”   


“Fine, Dee. I’ll go rest. Jeez…  _ Honestly, I’m fine. I can keep this up all day, piece of cake. _ ” Despite his sass, he does let them go, and almost immediately falls to the ground.

****

“Shit!” Diego rushed forward, only just managing to catch his brother. Between him and Luther, they carefully carry Klaus up to Five’s room, and while the others get him settled, Diego went to get some of Klaus’ lights. He came back with as many of the fairy lights he could grab, and begun to hang them up around the room.

****

“Diego? What are you doing?”

****

“Klaus hates the dark, says it reminds him of Dad’s training. Whatever Dad did, made him terrified of small spaces, or just closed rooms in general. If all the windows and doors are closed, and he is alone, he starts to freak out. It gets worse in the dark. The spirits come out better in the dark, even if he’s high. He needs the lights.”

****

“I see. Well, it’s not like a fear of the dark is that hard to believe with somebody who can see the dead.”

****

“Yeah, anyway. We should leave him be, let him sleep all this off. Before we go though, check his stuff for drugs, any that you find give to Mom. She would know not to stop him cold turkey, but how to ease him off of them. It’s definitely time to get him of them.”

****

“You got that right. We should have stopped him when we were kids, really.”

****

“Yeah, that’s the problem with our family, we weren’t too good at realising when each other needed help.”

****

They gathered all the drugs they could find on him, and throughout his room. They definitely missed some, but they got the most of them. They needed to help Klaus, something in their bones screamed at them that if they didn’t, something would definitely go wrong.

****

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

****

Well, they were right about that. But unfortunately, they were far too late to begin helping Klaus, the damage done would be extremely hard to fix, and could never be undone. Maybe there was a chance, however, for Klaus to fix them? No, surely not. He would need to be able to time travel for that to even come close to working. That wouldn’t be possible, Five was dead.

****

Back to the story. Klaus was indescribably tired after the semi-revival stunt he pulled. And as one does when they are that tired, Klaus slept for a long time. Long for him, anyway. As Klaus usually averages around two hours a night, sleeping for a full eight was a major jump. The others though, they hadn’t expected him up for ten hours at least, considering he passed out so suddenly. And yet, he got a solid eight, which was still good, all facts about Klaus considered.

****

There was just one issue though. Klaus waking up so soon meant that it was, roughly, two am when he awoke. Which meant Diego was out being a vigilante, Luther was in his room that was soundproof so he couldn’t hear anyone unless the door was open, which it was not. Vanya had gone home to her apartment, not able to bear staying at the house so soon. Allison was at the house still, but was a notoriously deep sleeper, ever since she said the words _ ‘I heard a rumour I got my beauty sleep.’  _ Nothing would wake her until she was fully rested. Which left Klaus with Five, Ben, and the other spirits.

****

Turns out, after using so much of his power, Klaus’ body went into a speed detox. And thus, all the drugs left his system. Almost. They unfortunately left his body the moment he got to the toilet. Through his mouth, not his ass, luckily. But still, not a fun experience, especially once he realised what it meant. He quickly started searching for his drugs, and found… Nothing.

****

_ Damn it! They searched me! Why? It’s not like they care all that much, why would they… _

****

Then he looked up properly, for the first time since he woke up. His eyes focused on Ben, which was expected, but then… Was that,  _ Five? _ How was he here? Memories came crashing back with full force, full tidal wave of emotion. Five, everyone dead, eight days… Wait! Eight days? Fuck, fuck,  _ fuck. _

****

_ That’s not good, what could cause the apocalypse like that in eight days time, give or take? And destroy the moon or whatever? Could it be one of us? Surely not, none of our powers are nearly that explosive… Unless, no. Vanya doesn’t have powers, she escaped that, right? _

****

Even as he thought these extremely logical thoughts, a certain memory nagged at the back of his mind. They could have only been four at most, the time in their life where they went through a surprising amount of nannies, and their ghosts joined the ever growing repertoire of dead parental figures following him, attempting to protect him. He remembered how they had died, as well. Or at least, could guess for most of them. He did witness the last nannies death before Mom showed up. And it wasn’t fun, that much is true.

****

It was rather traumatic, but not nearly as bad as the rest of their childhood. He had forgotten his little tie at breakfast, he hated eating with it on. He had gone back to get it before Dad would notice, when he saw Number Seven with their latest Nanny. She hadn’t finished her breakfast, as usual. She hated oatmeal. She also hated the Nannies forcing her to eat it. Which was demonstrated by her next action.

****

Seven seemed to focus on that annoying kettle sound, which never seemed to shut up. No wonder Seven was so angry, with her being forced to eat her least favourite meal, and that sound. Still, she focused on the sound and,  _ bam.  _ The Nanny was shoved with invisible force into a cabinet, and died from a knife that just so happened to be poking out. Not the nicest death, but far from the worst.

****

After that day, they got no more Nannies, and instead got Mom. That was the best thing that ever happened to them, getting Mom. She cared for them, and couldn’t die from Seven’s abilities.

****

Still, he couldn’t remember why Vanya no longer had her powers. Had Dad done something? Probably.

****

He was getting off topic. Well, not really. But, how would Van get her powers back and cause that much damage in eight days? It couldn’t be Vanya, it couldn’t be.

****

Suddenly, his breath caught in his throat, just like it did when he realised something that could answer his questions. That box he stole from Dad’s office. He still had it! Well, he had the books and shit that was in it. He sold the box as soon as he could. Still had the money and everything. He grabbed the book that seemed the most important, with good old Dad’s initials and everything!

****

Cracking open the book to the middle, as you do, he realised it was a report journal of every experiment and test Reggie did to them. Flipping to Vanya’s sections, he began to read what happened to her. Turns out, Reg couldn’t control her power, and put her on meds to stop them, emotional stabilizers. Fun. And then he read what he had Allison do to her. He made her rumour his little sister? That fucking old man… He is so lucky he’s already dead. He made her think she was just ordinary? Klaus was going to conjure him, just to yell at him. He swore to whatever power was up or down there.

****

Now was not the time to be defensive big brother though, as the pages had flipped while he was angry, onto one of Fives sessions. He read it, and had to physically restrain himself. Their  _ Father _ purposely drove Five to anxiety attacks, because he didn’t believe Five was actually struggling with constant space hops. And Klaus hadn’t known.

****

He read through the whole book from the start after that. He needed to know what that bastard had done. He tried to skip over his sessions, but it became impossible as he read on. Apparently, he had ‘wasted his potential the most’ out of his siblings. He had ‘the capability to be the strongest of them all’. Yeah right, Reggie didn’t know what he was saying.

****

Then he read a report on himself after coming out of the mausoleum for the first time after Fives disappearance. He was ‘distant’ and had ‘constant fits’ of ‘uncontrollable apathy’. Huh, who would have thought? You lock someone up after a emotionally damaging experience, and they lock their emotions away. What a shocker.

****

_ There goes that apathy again, I guess. Lovely, perfect. I love not caring about people. _ But that was the most transparent lie Klaus had ever told, apart from saying he was a straight man. Can’t get worse than that, can you?

****

“Klaus, you know it’s not helpful to keep this locked inside. We’ve checked the house. No one will hear you except us. Pogo is dead asleep, so is Allison. Luther wouldn’t hear anyway, and Mom’s charging. You can break now.”

****

And that was apparently all the precarious dam needed to collapse, just some kind words from family. Klaus broke down for the second time within 24 hours, a record by a long shot.

****

_ Well, time to start those waterworks again. Thank god I was smart enough to have a few glasses of water… _

****

Those waterworks certainly did well, but it wasn’t just crying. Klaus thanked and cursed the gods for not reminding him to cut his nails, as they raked over his arms, face, neck, and torso. He felt the skin spilt over and over, but he couldn’t care at this point. He pulled at his hair, he bit at his arms, he did whatever damage he could. He knew Five didn’t have any blades in his room, which was probably a good thing for his mental state.

****

Thoughts and memories of his fuck-ups ran through his mind at alarming speeds. How he didn’t save his siblings from their deranged Father and his tests. How he had left Vanya out of so many things, that she could have been included in. God, he was a terrible brother, why couldn’t he just die…

****

Because then, who would let the others talk to Five and Ben? They needed the human Ouija board for that, if nothing else. Mom would be heartbroken if she found him up here, dead. What about Vanya? There would be no more movie nights…

****

So, he couldn’t die. That was settled. But he really couldn’t cope with life either… Instead of going over those issues in his head, he focused on the pain. So grounding, showed he could actually feel something other than self-hatred and love for his family. It was nice…

****

And slowly, hours passed. Klaus was stuck in his mind for over three hours, before Diego walked in. Upon seeing him, his older brother rushed forward, taking him into an embrace carefully. Not carefully enough though, as Klaus immediately recoiled, breath becoming even more unsettled. Recognising it for what it was, Diego started talking calmly, holding one of Klaus’ hands as he did. Rubbing circles even after his breath evened out, he helped his brother to stand.

****

“Come on Klaus, lets go downstairs, yeah? Mu… Mom is awake, she can clean you up and get some blankets for us.”

****

Unable to reply verbally, as the attacks had rendered his voice useless, he nodded to show his understanding. He unconsciously leaned into Diego, which caused said sibling to smile. Diego had gotten changed before he checked on Klaus, thankfully, into a set of pyjamas he had brought with him. Just a sweater and sweats, nothing special.

****

They eventually got to the sitting room, where Mom was already waiting with a smile on her face. It dropped the moment her eyes landed on Klaus, however, and she rushed over to her med kit. The cuts weren’t serious, but could definitely get infected. That was not going to happen on her watch.

****

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

****

When Vanya returned to the Academy at around 7 am, she didn’t know what to expect. Luther running around the house, working out? Understandable. Allison doing her makeup in her room? Naturally. Diego and Klaus cuddled up on the sofa? A constant sce- Wait what?

****

She walked back to the doors into the sitting room, and took in the sight before her. Klaus, covered in bandages with hot chocolate in hand, Diego with what was most likely tea. The two were sitting under a blanket, and Klaus was leaning against Diego’s shoulder. Diego had an arm around him, and was mumbling something to him causing the most adorable smile to take over his face.

****

She walked in, after knocking on the doorframe to avoid startling them. They still jumped slightly, and Diego immediately looked embarrassed. Only for a second, before Klaus waved at her.

****

“H-hey Van. Wasn’t expecting you here so early.”

****

“Hey Klaus, Diego. You two seem comfortable there.”

****

“Yeah, wanna join Vanya?”

****

She had expected that from Klaus maybe, not Diego. But, she wasn’t stupid. She saw the offer for what it was. An olive branch. If they were going to help Klaus, they had to get along.

****

“Sure, don’t see why not.”

****

Ben and Five watched this with matching smiles on their faces. It wasn’t quite there yet, it would take time, but they were getting there. This was a stepping stone in the right direction. This would help fix their mess of a family.

**Author's Note:**

> If u cried, I can write fluff if u want. Either fluff where Five is alive instead, or just fluff after this.


End file.
